Both are based on the feats, context,mechanics, function, lore, etc.
Space manip inherently just happens to be an ability that's way more leniant due to the actual mechanics of it being able to effect things regardless of tier (up to a point, something like a weird fucky physiology, HDE, stuff above the High 3-A, being outside of space, range stuff, etc can obviously negate it, unless the thing in question has feats of doing so).
The problem, here, is you aren't using common sense. Like take time stop, it's obviously gonna work regardless of AP as long as the foe in question doesn't resist it, because they still abide by the laws of time (and if they don't, well yeah they'd resist). Space Manip is generally the same, do they occupy space? Is the character in question able to interact with space itself and sever it for example in a way that doesn't actively interact with stats? Etc.
Like literally just think, how do these abilities work? What is the mechanics behind them? Any reason why it should or might not work depending on context? All you're doing is looking at the ability name, when even abilities with the same name can vary, all the ability titles get used for, is for categorization and rule of thumb.